cumming of age

I have to offer a huge congratulations to all my students that participated in our horn night last week. It was an incredibly wonderful experience, and a fabulous event. Many of my students participated in the evening: we combined middle and high school students, university students and brass methods students for horn choir playing and small ensembles. The concert was also the rehearsal, so it was a new experience for young students to put together music for the first time with a large audience and to perform works they had only practiced for a few weeks. The Marian students also performed solos, which they did quite admirably. I was blown away by all the hard work and their dedication to the event. I thought the result was a wonderful night of great music making, unbelievable bravery and loads of fun! They did great things, and I saw wonderful results in every one of my students. I am honoured to be their teacher and privileged to get to spend every week with them.

With most of my students just coming back from Spring Break and finishing their competition season, I am noticing a trend of coming to lessons with "nothing to play." While I always have plenty to say, I find students succeed quicker when they are working on material outside of band music. Younger students' class music is repetitive, uses a small range, and they spend so much time in class learning music by rote, that they miss learning rhythms and intervals. When they go to play new music, they are stymied. Once hitting high school, the music becomes significantly harder, and they lack endurance from mere one-line studies in their Standard of Excellence books. For high school and advanced students, they often play fine without practicing, but they don't advance as quickly as they could, nor reach their highest potential as hornists. I use weeks like these to learn through sight-reading, performing duets, learning skills like transposition and clef reading, and coaching on ensemble music, but there is still more potential for learning. Parents and students should consider the following suggestions to make the most of their investment in lessons:1. It is not about practicing a lot, it is about practicing well. There are many strategies for effective practice and I try to suggest several each lesson. Practice should be regular, consistent, and not in "cram sessions." Avoid playing each piece over and over, but instead focus on the tricky spots and try playing the music differently than what is on the page to learn more effectively (ie., play a quick staccato passage slurred and slow). If students practice well for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, they will see great improvement, and still have room for homework! Also - just because you didn't practice your band music, doesn't mean it won't get better. Pushing yourself at home will make your classroom experience even better.2. When in class and practicing, always play with your best sound! Just because you are working on scales, doesn't mean it can't be great sounding music! Ask yourself - am I using good hand position and a relaxed setup? Am I paying attention to what comes out of the bell? Did I take a full breath, even if I only have 1 bar to play?3. Learn the fundamentals of music and your instrument. Scales are much easier when you understand the patterns they follow! Do you know what a perfect 5th sounds like? Not learning music theory in the classroom? Dedicate a few lessons to music theory. Warm up using the harmonic series and exploring the full range and both sides of the instrument.4. Practice your scales and arpeggios! Music is all about patterns and tonalities, and learning these scales will simplify your music making. Every week, pick one scale to master, and warm up with it daily.5. Studies are your friend! Every week, I strongly recommend that students work on 1-2 studies, usually focusing on one lyrical and one technical piece. Depending on your abilities, there are many options available (and many for free!), which help you quickly develop musicality, dexterity, adaptability, endurance and technique. Students that make the most of their lessons and improve most quickly prepare studies weekly, and they make up at least half their lesson time.6. Play a solo and play music you love! Students improve most quickly when they play music they enjoy, and I encourage that they help choose the music they play. There is plenty of solos available for free in public domain, and I find that students are most engaged by playing a couple solos each term, learning new styles and technique through the process. I like to spend about 1/3 of a lesson on a solo piece. I also recommend playing orchestral excerpts as mini-solos, giving students a chance to learn the pillars of horn literature in more concentrated settings. 7. Be vocal about what you need! Are you having difficulties with multiple tonguing? Do you have trouble with high notes? Is your intonation giving you trouble? If you haven't worked on a study or solo over the past week, think of what you are doing in class and where you have room for improvement. Your teacher can help with many elements of your playing, but please let us know what concerns you!With the busyness at the end of term and summer approaching, I highly recommend evaluating your lesson preparation and practicing strategies. Are you making the most of your lesson time? What will you work on this summer? Have you selected a solo to learn or a study book to read through when you are out of school? Be proactive in your learning and go for it - I see so much potential in all my students and the reward in achieving so much success will be worth the work!